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Mary Elizabeth "Eliza" Babbitt Cushman
Mary Elizabeth Babbitt Cushman is the second wife of Elkanah Cushman.
Elkanah Cushman
Cushman is a merchant of the West Indies trade. Elkanah Cushman is Charlotte Cushman's father and married to Mary Elizabeth Babbitt.
Final New York Performance on Nov 7, 1874
Charlotte Cushman performs for Booth's Theater in New York for the last time. She acts as Lady Macbeth on stage together with George Vandenhoff among others.
Credit
Newspaper.com(article only attached as illustration)
Diary Entry by Anne H. Brewster about the Breakup of Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays
The complete diary entry for June 5, 1876 is 24 pages long and details the time Harriet Hosmer and Anne H. Brewster spent together. The last eight pages (transcribed here) recount, how Hosmer witnessed the passionate breakup of Charlotte Cushman and…
Romeo and Juliet Performance, Haymarket Theatre, London, Dec 30, 1845
Charlotte Cushman performs as Romeo and her sister takes over the role of Juliet.Cushman's performance as Romeo is generally met with wild enthusiasm. There were, however, also critical voices, among them Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855). Mitford was…
Tags: gender norms/bending, London, travel/touring
Mary Howitt
Charlotte Cushman and Mary Howitt become friends at an early stage of Cushman's career in England. Mary writes an autobiography and a journal. In 1846, she publishes her article on the Cushman sisters, which is titled "The Miss…
Tags: social capital
Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury
She writes several novels, among which Half Sisters (1848) is her most famous one. It comments on Victorian society and gender norms. The character Bianca, an actress who is half Italian, is said to be loosely based on Charlotte Cushman with whom…
Sarah Josepha Hale
Hale is an important business partner and friend of Cushman, as Hale becomes the editor of Godey's in 1837. She is Godey's editor for fourty years, from 1837-1877.
Anne Hampton Brewster
Anne Hampton Brewster is an American novelist, journalist and foreign correspondent. She is born to Maria Hampton and Francis Enoch Brewster. In the 1840s, Brewster and Charlotte Cushman meet in Philadelphia, where Cushman is manager of the Walnut…
Tags: Rome, same-sex attraction, travel/touring
Sallie Mercer [dates unknown]
Sallie Mercer starts working as a maid for Charlotte Cushman at around age 14 in 1844. She is the only one to accompany Cushman on her first trip to England and will stay with her until her death. Over these three decades, Mercer takes on several…
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In a letter from Elizabeth to her sister Arabel Malton Barrett from October 22, 1852, Browning describes the relationship between Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays a "female marriage."The Brownings lived in Italy for some time, in Florence (Casa…
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Harriet Hosmer is one of the most well-known sculptors of the nineteenth century, esp. for The Sleeping Faun and Zenobia in Chains. Besides her art, she is most well known for masculine attire and activities. Both her father, "Dr." Hiram Hosmer, and…
Rosalie Sully
Rosalie and Charlotte are in a relationship from 1843 until 1845. Rosalie is the daughter of Thomas Sully who once painted the actress. She dies on July 8, 1847, in Philadelphia.
Stebbins's Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life (1878)
Biography of Charlotte Cushman, written after her death by her spouse Emma Stebbins. The transcribed correspondence between Stebbins and Sidney Lanier (who had originally been chosen as the author of the biography) details the painstaking process of…
Angel of the Waters
Most famous statue sculpted by Emma Stebbins.
Susan Cushman Muspratt
Charlotte's sister performs as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet.She is forced into marriage with Nelson Merriman when she is 14 and he is in his 60s. He leaves her and the child in debt. With the help of her family, Susan files for divorce. Charlotte…
Eliza Cook
Charlotte Cushman fosters the business relationship between Sarah Hale and Eliza Cook. Cushman and Cook meet for the first time in May 1845 (London) when Charlotte appears as Bianca in Fazio (Merrill 141).She writes for the New Monthly Magazine, the…
Tags: admirers, same-sex attraction
Featured Item
Charlotte Cushman
Charlotte Cushman becomes widely known on both sides of the Atlantic as the first successful US-American actress. Earlier, she was a singer under the tutelage of James G. Maeder, married to actress Clara Fisher, in Boston. Charlotte has been the sole financial support of her mother since her father…

